JANUARY 2014

 

JANUARY 2014 GENERAL AWARENESS UPDATES

1.The 66th Army Day is being observed on 15 January 2014. The day is celebrated in recognition of the appointment of General K M Cariappa as the first Commander-in-Chief of independent India. He succeeded British Army General Roy Butcher on this day in 1948.

2.RBI fixes rupee reference rate at 61.5885 against USD. In a press release issued by RBI, the exchange rates for the pound and yen against the rupee were quoted at 101.0914 and 58.99 per 100 yen, based on reference rates for the dollar and cross-currency quotes at noon. The reference rate is based on the noon rates of select banks and the SDR-Rupee rate would be based on this rate, the release added.

3.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to appointed Anand Sinha, deputy governor, an advisor to the central bank for a period of three months after he retires on the coming Saturday. This is the first time an RBI deputy governor would have an advisory role after retirement, though there are instances of executive directors (EDs, the rank lower to this) having one.
4.The Union Government extended the term of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman U K. Sinha for a period of two years yesterday. He succeeded C B Bhave as chairman of SEBI in 2011 for a period of three years. After this extension, his term was going to complete in February 2014.

5.The World Bank has projected India’s economy will grow over 6 per cent in 2014-15 and 7.1 per cent by 2016-17 as global demand recovers and domestic investment increases. In China, growth is estimated to stay flat in 2014 at 7.7 per cent, slowing to 7.5 per cent for the next two years, reflecting deleveraging and less reliance on policy-induced investment.

6.Karnataka is the first state in the country to provide universal health coverage for tertiary care to all the sections of society. As many as 1.12 crore people in Karnataka are covered under the newly launched Rajiv Arogya Bhagya, for Above Poverty Line families. The Scheme entails the beneficiary to pay only 10% of the cost of treatment or procedures. It aims at providing subsidized healthcare to virtually every citizen in the State with Above Poverty Line (APL) card. Under the scheme, APL family members are entitled for health check up to 1.5 lakh rupees per annum. In special cases, if the expenditure exceeds 1.5 lakh rupees, the government grants another 50000 rupees. The BPL families are already covered under health scheme through Vajpayee Arogya Sree programme.

7.Senior IAS officer Rajeev Kher has been appointed Secretary in Department of Commerce. Kher, a 1980-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, is presently Special Secretary, Department of Commerce under Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He will take over from S R Rao, a 1978-batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, after his retirement on January 31, a press release issued today by Ministry of Personnel said.

8.Former Supreme Court judge and National Green Tribunal Chairperson Swatanter Kumar on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain the media from reporting the alleged sexual assault case of his former woman law intern. Justice Kumar has also sought a whopping Rs five crore as damages from two English news channels and a leading English daily for defaming him in the case.

9.Kerala-based writer Anees Salim won The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction 2013 for his second novel, Vanity Bagh for consistent writing and humour and imagination. “The book is a very comic account of a young man from a minority group from a place called Vanity Bagh, also called Little Pakistan.  It is about physical cities, both real and imagined,” said writer Timeri N. Murari, one of the jury members. The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction recognises the contribution of Indian writers to literary culture. It comprises a cash component of Rs. 5 lakh and a plaque. Manu Joseph won the first The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction in 2010 for his debut novel Serious Men.

10.The US handed over to India three stolen antique sculptures, valued at over USD 1.5 million, in a display of cooperation between the two countries after a month-long tension over the arrest on an Indian diplomat in USA.

11.Former India captain Sourav Ganguly would be conferred with an honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) degree by the prestigious Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur, for his great contribution to Indian cricket. Sourav Ganguly has made great contribution to Indian cricket. His captaincy was brilliant. He has contributed to take Indian cricket to great heights in the arena of world cricket and for that we have decided to honour him with the D.Litt,” BESU Vice-chancellor Ajoy Roy said in Kolkata on Tuesday.

12.Renowned Marathi poet and activist Namdeo Dhasal passed away in Mumbai today after a prolonged illness. He was 64. Dhasal who was battling with colorectal cancer, died at the BombayHospital. Dhasal was one of the founders of the militant Dalit Panther movement. He was also a pioneer of the Dalit literature movement.

13.Akhilesh Das Gupta is set to be re-elected president of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) as he remained the only candidate for the coveted post at the end of the filing of the nominations. General secretary Vijai Sinha would also be re-elected unopposed when the BAI’s annual general meeting takes place here on January 25 during the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold Tournament.

AWARDS & HONOURS

1) Which film has been adjudged “Best Motion Picture ” at 71st annual Golden Globe Awards ?
Ans:- 12 Years a Slave.

2) Who has won the DSC prize 2014 for South Asian literature for his book Chronicles of a Corpse Bearer on 18 January 2014?
Ans:- Cyrus Mistry.

3) Name the Indian Noted author and journalist has been awarded a Fellowship of King’s College London, the British institution’s highest honour on 16 January 2014 ? Ans:- Khushwant Singh.

4) Which state bagged 3rd Krishi Karman Award for 2012-13 for being the best performing state in overall agricultural production in the country on 18 January 2014?
Ans:- West Bengal.

5) Name the Indian born Scientist and Professor (Emeritus) at Stanford University on 21 January 2014 was awarded with prestigious ‘ 2014 Marconi Society Prize ‘ for developing the theory and application of MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) antennas ?
Ans:- Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj.

INTERNATIONAL

1) The Health Ministry of Japan on 1 January 2014 estimated that a quarter of the population is currently aged over 65 and the figure is expected to reach nearly 40 percent by ——– ?
Ans:- 2060.

2) Which government recently announced to build a new sanctuary to save World’s rarest Javan rhinos?
Ans:- Indonesia.

3) Parliamentary elections in North Korea, creating the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly, will be held on ———- ?
Ans:-  9 March 2014.

4)  The Parliament of Europe on 14 January 2014 signed a new carbon dioxide restriction treaty which seeks to slash emissions for a segment of transport across the European Union (EU) by 28% from year 2020. The treaty focuses on which transport segment?
Ans:- Commercial Vans.

5) The term ‘Euromaidan’ came to news recently, which stands for a huge spat of civil unrest and anti-government protests in a country.Which country is associated with these protests?
Ans:- Ukraine.

INDIA & WORLD

1) India on 1 January 2014 decided to send a team of senior officials to assess the political and security situation in ————- ?
Ans:- South Sudan.

2)Which country and India on 2 January 2014 signed an agreement on labour cooperation for domestic service workers recruitment ?
Ans:- Saudi Arabia.

3) Which country and India on 13 January 2014 signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for co-operation in Iron and Steel Sector ?
Ans:- Canada.

4) Which country decided to be one of the partners in the proposed National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZ) in Andhra Pradesh on 6 January 2014?
Ans:- China.

5) Which country and India on on 18 January 2014 agreed to promote cooperation in renewable energy, especially in areas of solar energy and wind power ?
Ans:- United Arab Emirates (UAE)

NATIONAL

1) Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India on 1 January 2014 gave his assent to which bill which aims at regulating corruption in public domain?
Ans:- Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2013.

2) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal for construction of a 220kV Transmission system from ——— on 2 January 2014 ?
Ans:- Alusteng (Srinagar) to Leh.

3) The Government of India on 10 January 2014 notified the new natural gas pricing formula.This new price mechanism would come into effect from which date?
Ans:- From 1 April 2014.

4) Name the programme for young persons of Overseas Indians introduced by Government of India in Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) on 8 January 2014?
Ans:- Know India Programme.

5) Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas launched LPG Connection Portability Scheme across the country on 22 January 2014. Name the present Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas?
Ans:- M Veerappa Moily

STATES

1) Union Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) officially launched the North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP) at —— on 6 January 2014 ?
Ans:- Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh.

2) Which state will launch its adult vaccination drive against Japanese Encephalitis (JE) from 22 February 2014 ?
Ans:- Assam.

3) Which state Government on 15 January 2014 decided to increase the reservation of Other Backward Classes (OBC) from 19.5 percent to 27 percent ?
Ans:- Goa.

4) Which state on 9 January 2014 became the first State in India to provide Universal Health Coverage to its population ?
Ans:- Karnataka.

5) The pilot project of Amul’s first “Any Time Milk” (ATM) vending machine to dispense milk on 24X7 basis was on 19 January 2014 installed at ——- ?
Ans:- Anand, Gujarat.

CONFERENCES

1) International Petroleum Conference 2014 (PETROTECH-2014) was held from 12th – 15th January 2014 at which place ?
Ans:- New Delhi.

SPORTS & GAMES

1) Corey Anderson ,who hit the fastest century in one-day international history on 1 January 2014 , belongs to which country ?
Ans:- New Zealand.

2)  Which player was awarded the Order of Prince Henry, one of the Portugal’s highest honours, by the Portugal’s president office on 3 January 2014?
Ans:- Cristiano Ronaldo.

3) Who won the Sydney International Tennis Tournament Women’s singles title on 10 January 2014 ?
Ans:- Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

4) Who retained the Volvo Golf Champions title at the Durban Country Club held on 12 January 2014?
Ans:- South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen.

5) Which Australian cricketer won the coveted Allan Border medal 2014 on 20 January 2014?
Ans:- Mitchell Johnson.

ECONOMY

1) Which entity was on 6 January 2014 selected by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to act as a local operating unit for issuing globally compatible Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) in India?
Ans:- The Clearing Corporation of India Limited – CCIL.

2) According to data provided by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and Seafood Exporters Association of India on 9 January 2014, which country has recently overtaken South – East Asia as the largest market for Indian seafood exports?
Ans:- The United States.

3) POSCO, the South Korean steel maker giant on 10 January 2014 received environment clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) in which state ?
Ans:- Odisha.

4) What is the name of world’ first Bitcoin storage service that insures deposits of the digital currency against hackers and accidental loss, which was opened on London on 12 January 2013?
Ans:- ‘Elliptic Vault’.

5) Which state became the first state to withdraw FDI in Multibrand Retail on 13 January 2013?
Ans:- Delhi.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

1) Name the software to predict weather developed by researchers from National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) recently?
Ans:-  Monitoring Climate Change (Moclic).

2) Which Meteorological Data Processing System was dedicated to the nation on 15 January 2014 on the occasion of 139th Foundation Day of India Meteorological Department (IMD)?
Ans:- INSAT 3D.

3) What is the name of India’s satellite-based flight navigation system which has been certified by aviation regulator DGCA, recently ?
Ans:- GAGAN.

4) Which country has recently carried out another successful test of its advanced missile defense system named ‘ Arrow 3 ‘ designed to intercept long – range missiles ?
Ans:- Israel.

5) Name India’s supercomputer rated 1st in India, 9th in the Asia Pacific Region and 44th in the world among the most power efficient computer systems as per the Green500 List?
Ans:- Param Yuva-II.

APPOINTMENTS this month

1) Who has been elected as the Speaker of the Delhi Assembly on 3 January 2014?
Ans:- M.S. Dhir.

2) Who was appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of  Uninor on 8 January 2014 ?
Ans:- Morten Karlsen Sorby.

3) Who has been appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of private insurer Future Generali India Life Insurance on 7 January 2014?
Ans:- Munish Sharda.

RESIGNATIONS this month

1) Garry Kenneth Toomey on 16 January 2014 resigned as the CEO of a prominent Indian airline company.Which airline is this?
Ans:-  Jet Airways

PEOPLE PASSED AWAY this month

1) Namdeo Dhasal, the firebrand writer and fierce fighter for Dalit rights who passed away on 15 January 2014 was a famous poet in which language?
Ans:- Marathi.

VISITORS to India this month

1) Name the South Korean President visited India from 15 – 18 January 2014 ?
Ans:-  Park Geun-Hye.

MISCELLANEOUS

1) Who retired as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 20 January 2014?
Ans:- Anand Sinha.

2) Which Indian railway station’s platform number one has become the world’s longest platform as announced by Limca Book of Records on 11 January 2014?
Ans:- Gorakhpur railway station, Uttar Pradesh.

ABBREVIATIONS

1) What is the full form of  ‘ NASSCOM ‘ ?
Ans:- National Association of Software and Services Companies.

BOOKS IN NEWS

1) ‘Driven’, a book released recently, has been written by a former a Civil Servant Turned Entrepreneur. Who is he?
Ans:- Jagdish Khattar.

COMMITTEES IN NEWS

1) Who was the head of RBI’s committee on strengthening monetary policy framework, which in its recommendations has suggested that the target for inflation should be set at 4% with a band of +/- 2% around it ?
Ans:- Urjit Patel, Deputy Governor of the RBI.

DAYS & DATES

1) ‘ National Girl Child Day ‘ is observed on ———— ?
Ans:- January24.